Lol I love it. Now if this Niemi arbitration thing plays out, they will have literally lost everyone, plus Buff and Versteeg. Things are looking grim in Chicago... Anyone else care to start another debate on them being completely fine next season?

They might have to match it. They only have 3 defensemen under contract right now and one of those three (Campbell) they can't give away.

They have 4 - John Scott was signed about a week ago... there's no way they can afford that, they're already only like 3m below the cap and they only have 16 players under contract...

If anything, this might be the best thing to happen to them, as they can rationalize it to fans as someone "stealing him" and it not just being another trade, and they get two picks in return (which don't take up cap space) - one of which is a 1st rounder...

They have 4 - John Scott was signed about a week ago... there's no way they can afford that, they're already only like 3m below the cap and they only have 16 players under contract...

If anything, this might be the best thing to happen to them, as they can rationalize it to fans as someone "stealing him" and it not just being another trade, and they get two picks in return (which don't take up cap space) - one of which is a 1st rounder...

According to nhlnumbers.com they have $9 mil in cap space, but only 9 forwards and 4 defenseman. CapGeek has the Hawks with like $3.6 mil. If that's the case, then, yeah, he's gone, Niemi too.